Annalise BerdiniPrinceton University (formerly University of California, San Diego)

Charles MacquarieUniversity of California, San Francisco

Shira PeltzmanUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Kate TaskerUniversity of California, San Francisco

Source

Journal of Western Archives
Vol. 9, No. 1 (2018)
Article 10

Abstract

This case study outlines the process of creating a set of standards to guide description of born-digital archival collections materials in an archival context across the University of California (UC) system. The authors outline the need for such a standard, including the research methodology that helped establish this need, and the procedures by which these new guidelines were created, refined, and accepted across the UC. The paper goes into detail about the processes, considerations, and discussions that went into drafting rules for each descriptive element included in the standards. The authors argue that much of the specific guidance for describing born-digital materials that is present in these new standards does not exist elsewhere, and that existing archival description standards could benefit from consideration or incorporation of these new descriptive rules. This is identified as an area for future work.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.